SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Doctors falsely prescribe stimulants to help give low-income students an edge in schools.
Doctor Falsely Prescribes Drugs to Give Students an "Edge"
Stimulants help "even the scales" for low-income students
Oct 09, 2012
Dr. Michael Anderson, a Georgian pediatrician, considers prescription medicine the next great equalizer. The New York Times reports on the practice of prescribing stimulants to under-performing, low-income students to help them get an edge in schools.
Anderson, "one of the more outspoken proponents" of this idea, admits to falsely diagnosing children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in order to prescribe medication--namely the drug Adderall--to treat the 'true' ailment: "poor academic performance in inadequate schools."
"I don't have a whole lot of choice," said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. "We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to modify the kid's environment. So we have to modify the kid."
Adderall's intended use is to boost focus and impulse control in people suffering with ADHD. Reported side effects include growth suppression, increased blood pressure and--in rare cases--psychotic episodes; they are classified by the DEA as Schedule II Controlled Substances because they are particularly addictive.
The article points out that it is not uncommon among wealthy college and high school students to abuse stimulants in order to perform better in school. It appears that the trend may be spreading to low-income families whose young children are not performing well in schools that are often underfunded and over-crowded. Anderson believes that he is "evening the scales a bit" for children whose families can't afford behavior-based therapies "like tutoring and family counseling."
Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist in Cambridge, Mass., who works primarily with lower-income children and their schools, told the New York Times: "We are seeing this more and more. We are using a chemical straitjacket instead of doing things that are just as important to also do, sometimes more."
The superintendent of a major California school district--who spoke to the NY Times on the condition of anonymity--noted that diagnosis rates of ADHD have risen as sharply as school funding has declined. ADHD is an increasingly common diagnosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that rates of ADHD diagnosis increased an average of 3% per year from 1997 to 2006 and an average of 5.5% per year from 2003 to 2007, amounting to 5.4 million children age 4-7 diagnosed as of 2007.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Dr. Michael Anderson, a Georgian pediatrician, considers prescription medicine the next great equalizer. The New York Times reports on the practice of prescribing stimulants to under-performing, low-income students to help them get an edge in schools.
Anderson, "one of the more outspoken proponents" of this idea, admits to falsely diagnosing children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in order to prescribe medication--namely the drug Adderall--to treat the 'true' ailment: "poor academic performance in inadequate schools."
"I don't have a whole lot of choice," said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. "We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to modify the kid's environment. So we have to modify the kid."
Adderall's intended use is to boost focus and impulse control in people suffering with ADHD. Reported side effects include growth suppression, increased blood pressure and--in rare cases--psychotic episodes; they are classified by the DEA as Schedule II Controlled Substances because they are particularly addictive.
The article points out that it is not uncommon among wealthy college and high school students to abuse stimulants in order to perform better in school. It appears that the trend may be spreading to low-income families whose young children are not performing well in schools that are often underfunded and over-crowded. Anderson believes that he is "evening the scales a bit" for children whose families can't afford behavior-based therapies "like tutoring and family counseling."
Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist in Cambridge, Mass., who works primarily with lower-income children and their schools, told the New York Times: "We are seeing this more and more. We are using a chemical straitjacket instead of doing things that are just as important to also do, sometimes more."
The superintendent of a major California school district--who spoke to the NY Times on the condition of anonymity--noted that diagnosis rates of ADHD have risen as sharply as school funding has declined. ADHD is an increasingly common diagnosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that rates of ADHD diagnosis increased an average of 3% per year from 1997 to 2006 and an average of 5.5% per year from 2003 to 2007, amounting to 5.4 million children age 4-7 diagnosed as of 2007.
Dr. Michael Anderson, a Georgian pediatrician, considers prescription medicine the next great equalizer. The New York Times reports on the practice of prescribing stimulants to under-performing, low-income students to help them get an edge in schools.
Anderson, "one of the more outspoken proponents" of this idea, admits to falsely diagnosing children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in order to prescribe medication--namely the drug Adderall--to treat the 'true' ailment: "poor academic performance in inadequate schools."
"I don't have a whole lot of choice," said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. "We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to modify the kid's environment. So we have to modify the kid."
Adderall's intended use is to boost focus and impulse control in people suffering with ADHD. Reported side effects include growth suppression, increased blood pressure and--in rare cases--psychotic episodes; they are classified by the DEA as Schedule II Controlled Substances because they are particularly addictive.
The article points out that it is not uncommon among wealthy college and high school students to abuse stimulants in order to perform better in school. It appears that the trend may be spreading to low-income families whose young children are not performing well in schools that are often underfunded and over-crowded. Anderson believes that he is "evening the scales a bit" for children whose families can't afford behavior-based therapies "like tutoring and family counseling."
Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist in Cambridge, Mass., who works primarily with lower-income children and their schools, told the New York Times: "We are seeing this more and more. We are using a chemical straitjacket instead of doing things that are just as important to also do, sometimes more."
The superintendent of a major California school district--who spoke to the NY Times on the condition of anonymity--noted that diagnosis rates of ADHD have risen as sharply as school funding has declined. ADHD is an increasingly common diagnosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that rates of ADHD diagnosis increased an average of 3% per year from 1997 to 2006 and an average of 5.5% per year from 2003 to 2007, amounting to 5.4 million children age 4-7 diagnosed as of 2007.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.